Fact of the day

Information is the most powerful weapon.

Monday

Fact N°
1163

A vaccine is being developed to inoculate smokers against nicotine.

In the same way vaccines for measles and polio inoculate people against getting those diseases, a vaccine under development called NicVAX can work to prevent smokers from getting the nicotine kick from cigarettes. The vaccine stimulates the body to create antibodies that attack nicotine when ingested.
Other such vaccines that address highly addictive substances are also under development, most notably one for cocaine addicts.

Tuesday

Fact N°
1164

"The Most Dangerous Woman in America" died of pneumonia in 1938.

In 1906, unlucky Mary Mallon, aka "Typhoid Mary," became the first person in the U.S. to be identified as a healthy carrier of typhoid disease. The Irish immigrant worked as a cook throughout New York City, infecting a number of people until the city quarantined her on North Brother Island. The whole way, Mallon was adamant that she did not have the disease.
Released on the condition she not work with food -- poor hygiene can transmit it into food and water -- she did so anyway, until discovered by health officials. They promptly quarantined her, this time for life. All told, she infected at least 47 people with typhoid, 3 of whom died.

Wednesday

Fact N°
1165

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Modern science has an answer.

According to evolutionary geneticist John Brookfield, cosmologist Stephen Hawking, and even modern thinker Chris Langdon, the egg came first. Why? DNA.
DNA remains unchanged throughout the life of an organism. Thus, whatever the genetic material is inside the egg will be the same as the that which is inside the grown adult. In other words, conceived as a chicken, hatched as a chicken, live and die as a chicken -- there is no other way. A soaring eagle won't suddenly plummet to earth because it spontaneously turned into a turkey.
Whatever genetic change there was between chicken-like parents and the first true chicken inside the egg must have occurred in the reproductive DNA, sealing the deal: the egg came first.

Forbes' "Fictional 15" first appeared in 2002 but became annual in 2005. In order to qualify, a character must be an "authored fictional creation" (no myth or folklore), "star in a specific narrative work or series of works" and have a reputation -- in and out of fiction -- for wealth.
Forbes applies contemporary market values to the character's source material to estimate net worth. Defense contractor Daddy Warbucks topped the 2006 list thanks to the war in Iraq, while the likes of Mr. Burns, Mr. Howell, and Richie Rich make perennial appearances.

Friday

Fact N°
1167

Contrary to popular notion, it is not illegal to sell candy cigarettes in the U.S.

Over the last century, confectionery companies have marketed as many as 100 brands of candy cigarettes, much to the delight (and occasional collusion) of tobacco companies, and to the chagrin of anti-tobacco activists. An extensive study published in the British Medical Journal concluded that these candies promoted smoking to children, and that tobacco company cooperation was evident.
Some countries have outlawed these products, and in Canada federal law only prohibits branding that looks like cigarettes. However, efforts in 1970 and 1991 to ban U.S. sales ended in failure.

Saturday

Fact N°
1168

The world record for having found the most four-leaf clovers belongs to a Pennsylvania convict.

George Kaminski is a Pennsylvania prison inmate serving a lengthy sentence for various felonies. Over the years, he has found a record-setting 72,928 four-leaf clovers among the grasses of various prison yards. As of 2008, the record is still his, despite a few challengers.
According to a Washington Post article, Kaminski began finding and collecting the rare clovers to set an example for a younger inmate, chiefly that "you can do anything you set your mind to."

Sunday

Fact N°
1169

The history of e-mail spam has been traced back to a single e-mail, sent on May 3, 1978.

The next time your inbox is covered with a slimy coat of spam, remember the name Gary Thuerk.
Using the ARPAnet, the network of government and university computers, on that date in 1978, Thuerk, working for Digital Computer Corp., wanted to invite all 600 West Coast members of the net to showings of the company's new computers, but balked at the thought of so many individual e-mails. His epiphany was to send just one, to all 600.
Admonished by both users and ARPAnet administrators for misusing a government network for advertising, the e-mail nonetheless proved profitable to the company. A nasty industry was born.